Identity Initiative
by Illusory Phantom
Summary: After a fight which left more than bruising, Danielle 'Danni' Phantom decides to do a little soul searching.


**Author's Notes: Reviews from Shifting Sizes.**

**GoldGuardian2418: Aww, that is cute! There is not enough fanfics with Clockwork in them that are this sweet, in my opinion, at least. Great story! Another favorite!**

HEY THERE! Thanks for the kind words. I totally agree that there aren't that many stories where Clockwork gets to have some sweet moments. I think he deserves this.

**kingpariah: hahaha. poor clockwork, cant catch a break. :P**

**I don't suppose you could make desiree use her powers to keep him in adult form?**

**or simply have him look like he's in adult form (think hologram) without disturbing the time shifts.**

**in other words, he'll keep changing age/forms, but everyone will see him as adult.**

Clockwork and Dan are both my personal punching bags for some reason.

As for your questions...I don't know. Part of my wants to make Clockwork retain one form, but that would take something away from his character. Then again, it's so complicated typing him in as changing forms all the time. (Or I could be really really lazy. :/) Either way, we'll see what happens.

**Liliana Dragonshard: So sweet!**

**Liliana**

Thanks Lili! Can I call you Lili? I greatly appreciate your praise and hope that you continue to read my other stories. :D

* * *

Identity Initiative

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," mumbled a green eyed white haired girl as she glowered to her left.

"I said I was sorry. It's not my fault you have the most uncreative name ever," mumbled a black haired, purple eyed girl.

"Gonna ignore that in favor of being kinda in agreement," stated a green eyed, white haired male as he rubbed the back of his aching neck.

The white haired girl stopped and turned her attention to the boy who could pass as her twin, and for good reason. Danielle aka Danni Phantom crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the boy she was cloned from.

"What?" Daniel aka Danny Phantom asked with a raised brow. When Danielle didn't respond, Danny let out an exasperated sigh before he looked towards Samantha 'Sam' Manson for help. Sam just frown and placed both her hands upon her hips.

"It's not my fault," Danielle mumbled as she turned away from her 'brother' and his girlfriend. Danny walked towards her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Danni, listen-"

"I get it, okay? I have no identity of my own. I'm just a generic female version of you."

Danny and Sam cringed while Danielle took off into the air like a bullet. Danny sighed as he turned to look at Sam who looked a bit guilty, but not as much as Danny did.

"That...could have gone better," he stated as he rubbed the back of his head. Sam turned her attention towards the dirt covered sidewalk that they had been walking down before she looked towards Danny as he reverted back to his black haired blue eyed form. He ran his fingers through his slightly longer hair and watched the sky.

"She'll get over it," Sam stated in an almost whisper.

"I hope so."

* * *

Danielle made her way into the Ghost Zone while glistening tears streaked down her face. It wasn't her fault that she was his clone, shared his traits, shared his likeliness, abilities minus her fire powers to his ice, but most importantly her name. Her name wasn't Daniel, but it was close enough, and ultimately that made her nickname 'Danni' and with her ghost half, it made her Danni Phantom. In battle it was confusing, and today it had almost cost them.

Danielle screamed angrily as her eyes blazed a light green-yellow hue. Her hands blazed the same color, and she let it fly, unaware that there happened to be someone near by. A small whitish-blue vortex opened and absorbed the attack, but Danielle hadn't noticed. She was too busy panting. She had exerted a lot of energy already, and that wild, sloppy excuse for an attack just drained her even more.

"Problems?" a smooth voice asked, snapping Danielle out of her current fuming. She turned, hands glowing again in case she needed to defend herself, but the glow faded when she realized who had spoken to her.

"Clockwork?" she questioned as she floated up towards him cautiously.

"Indeed. You seem to be enrage. May I ask why?"

Danielle narrowed her eyes at the currently out of commission Master of Time. She was partially sure that he knew why she was angry, then again he wasn't exactly in control of the time streams for the moment. She bit her lip before letting out a breath through her nose.

"I'm nothing special," she started as tears began to fill her eyes once more. "I'm just a rip-off. I'm nothing more than a copy-cat phantom all the way down to my stupid monicker."

Clockwork looked Danielle up and down thoughtfully. Her shirt was black on the right side, but cut off diagonally into white on the left. Upon her left hand was a black glove while upon her right hand was a white glove. The shirt also had a white DP emblem in it center, just like Danny's, and the shirt showed her midriff which had a small cut on the side, but it was healing. Her pants were black along the middle until it reach her ankles. On the outside of the black was white.

Clockwork hummed as his appearance morphed into that of a child. Danielle didn't seem to notice as she continued ranting.

"Almost every battle I've been included with we get our names confused, and it's stupid really. Sam and Tucker will call me Danielle, but they eventually revert to just say Danni G for Girl, but it's not enough We still end up getting hurt!"

"I see. Sounds to me like you need a name change."

"But I like my name..."

"Yes, but do you like it enough to keep putting your family and friends in danger?"

"Absolutely not!" Danielle stated, sounding appalled at the very notion.

"Then I think it best to change your name to avoid further confusion. I believe I have some books you could look through."

Danielle looked at Clockwork, who changed into his elderly form, noticing a twinkling in his eyes. It was the look that Mr. Fenton gave her or Jazz when he was happy to see them or proud of them. It confused her seeing it coming from Clockwork, but she just shrugged it off.

"Okay?" she said with a hint of uncertainty. Clockwork nodded once before he began to fly ahead of her, not bothering to turn around to see if she was following him.

Eventually the two of them made it to Clockwork's Tower, and Danielle just stared at it. It was one of the most marvelous places in the Ghost Zone that she had ever seen. Her eyes twinkled at the sight of it before she turned to face Clockwork who was hovering at the entrance.

"This is...this is your domain? It's awesome!"

Clockwork smiled proudly, before the expression vanished at a noise coming from inside his tower. Danielle didn't notice. She was too busy rambling about a weird sensation she felt when they had been flying, like a shifting a space. Clockwork waved his hand towards the entrance to his tower and it opened, revealing a ruined front entrance and a very demonic looking Dan Phantom. Clockwork narrowed his eyes at the mess and the creature in front of him while Danielle floated up behind him.

"Whoa, what happened in here?" she asked which seemed to get Dan's attention.

Dan turned to face Clockwork and the white haired girl behind him. Dan looked towards Clockwork with one brow raised while Clockwork glared at him, only to morph into his young adult form.

"I don't think Desiree will approve of you bringing other girls to the tower," Dan mumbled with a small smirk on his face.

Danielle frowned, knowing what Dan was implying while Clockwork just ignored him and waved his hand, his tower reverting back to its former glory. Clockwork said nothing as he moved aside to let Danielle in. She looked even more impressed with the inside of the tower than she was with the outside.

"I will return with the book shortly, Clockwork stated as he made his way into a room off to the side.

Danielle looked around awkwardly for a place to sit. Not too subtly, Dan placed his feet on a pendulum near him and feigned a yawn. Danielle rolled her eyes and made her way over to him. Dan tensed, which was an automatic reaction for him when he was about to fight. Danielle blinked at him, then smiled; a hint of mischief shimmered in her eyes. Dan only narrowed his eyes, but Danielle merely hefted herself up and sat on Dan's legs. Dan looked surprised at this, but Danielle pretended not to notice. If he wasn't going to move his legs, then she was just going to sit on them.

Dan remained tensed, especially when Danielle turned to look at him. She cocked her head to the side and pointed towards the new edition to his costume.

"I don't remember your cape looking like that," she stated honestly.

Dan raised his hand to the red DP clip and rubbed in offhandedly.

"Apparently Desiree likes to play dress up," he muttered, though there wasn't too much venom in his voice. If it was that bad, he would have changed it. Danielle smiled at this while Dan shook his head and snorted.

"You're awfully bold and insanely daring. Those are traits that would classify you as stupid."

"Some of the best heroes are," she stated smugly. Dan raised a brow at that response. She sounded so much like his weaker half, but she had denied being an alternate Danny from a different time line.

Dan moved his legs, causing Danielle to go slightly off balance. She floated a bit and Dan removed his legs from the pendulum, and Danielle sat down on it.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"You can thank me by telling me the truth."

"Oh?" She said, her smile turning into a slight frown as confusion began to manifest on her features.

"Yes. You said that you weren't another Danny from an alternate time line, yet your name is Danni, right; with an 'I'?"

Danielle frowned before she turned away from Dan. Dan gripped her shoulder roughly and turned her to face him.

"You owe me," he snapped darkly, his eyes burning with anger. Danielle felt the color drain from her face, and her heart thudded in her chest, despite being in ghost mode.

"Because you moved your legs?" she asked, trying to sound brave, but her voice had cracked.

"Because I helped save your pathetic lives when Clockwork's little brother decided that he wanted to be a little tart not to mention I believe that you know of what I am. It is, after all, only fair."

Danielle glanced at Dan's hand which was biting into her shoulder. Dan loosened it a bit, and Danielle sighed. It was only fair, she guessed.

"I'm...Vlad he..."

Dan removed his hand from her completely in favor of folding his arms over his chest.

"Vlad what?" he asked, impatience ringing through his tone.

"He tried to clone Danny...well, he did clone Danny. There was one perfect clone and then there were a bunch of other ones and then there was-"

"You? You're a clone?"

Danielle's eyes began to water, but Dan pretended that he didn't notice them.

"So Vlad cloned Danny. Looks like there was a mistake with a few chromosomes then in your case."

Danielle sniffed while Dan looked at her thoughtfully, before he smirked.

"That's pretty messed up," he stated while Danielle shot him a look.

"The only good that Vlad seems to have been capable of was you."

Danielle looked stunned. She wasn't completely sure if she should, but she was going to take what he said as a compliment.

"You think so?" she asked, though she regretted it when he looked at her.

"Oh yes, I do think so. Everything else Vlad did always backfired. Then again, I'm here so that's too things."

"Our definition of 'good' seems to be very different."

Dan flashed Danielle a cocky grin while Danielle wiped her eyes. Dan then shook his head and laughed.

"What?" Danielle said curiously.

"You," he said simply. When Danielle looked at him in a clueless manner, he rolled his eyes and elaborated. "There are to many 'Dannys'."

Danielle's face turned green with anger. "I know that," she snapped. "Trust me, I do. That's why I'm here. I need a new name."

"Oh, you couldn't have come up with something simple back _home_?" he taunted while Danielle just glared. "You had to come here? Don't they have baby books at the library or something."

"I'm not a baby," Danielle said even though it didn't matter if she was a baby or not. Dan knew that she knew that, so he didn't grace her with a snarky remark. Instead he rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"And what about you, huh? Why are you going by 'Phantom'. Why not Plasmius?"

Dan gave Danielle a look that she swore would have killed her if that was within his ability.

"Desiree said the same thing," he muttered. "I'm...thinking about it."

Danielle looked surprised and was about to say something, but Dan beat her to it.

"How about Ann or Anni?"

"Isn't Anni a little to close to Danny?"

"Maybe, but I used to know a pair of twins who were able to tell the difference. I don't see why you and Danny can't."

"I like it, but I still don't know. With all the shooting and dodging and wind blowing, don't you think it would still be confusing?"

"Don't Jack and Maddie have those stupid little communicator things?"

"Oh! Of course! The Fenton Phones! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because your imagination is limited due to your low self-esteem."

"I'm sorry?"

"You said that you were Danny's clone as if it's a bad thing. You think that you're nothing except some sort of twisted version of him. I don't think you are. There's something different about you. You're not some mindless piece of crap. You've got mettle. Like Jazz told me, you're not Danny. So stop thinking that you are. It's pathetic."

Danielle sat there, speechless and confused. Dan, realizing what he had just done, stood abruptly and literally stormed out, wind blowing in every direction destroying whatever was in his path. It was in that moment, a chubby cheek little Clockwork appeared from the room he had gone in with a book in his hands. He frowned as he noticed the damage, but turned his attention towards the still stunned little ghost girl.

"Is something wrong," Clockwork called to Danielle, though he had a knowing look in his eyes. Danielle turned to face him, the confusion momentarily wearing off in favor of a wide smile. She noticed the book in Clockwork's hands and rose from the pendulum.

"My name is Danielle, but I think I'll go by Anni from now on."

"Anni?" Clockwork repeated then looked towards his book.

"Yep! Anni Phantom. I know it sounds pretty lame considering that it's still really close to Danny, but, well, we're masquerading as twins, right?"

"Anni it is then, though I do believe that we have a problem."

"We do?"

Clockwork nodded and pointed to the center of Danielle's chest. Danielle looked down at the emblem on her chest and closed her eyes. She had forgotten about that. Another thing that was 'copied' from Danny, and also one of the reason Sam is somewhat annoyed with her ghost form.

"I can't change my appearance," she muttered sadly.

Clockwork hummed before he placed the book down on a pedestal. He floated towards her and began to circle around her. She seemed nervous by this gesture, but she didn't say a word. Finally Clockwork stopped in front of her, changing from his baby form into his elderly form, and waved his hand before her. She felt a strange tingling sensation in the middle of her gut so she closed her eyes.. Slowly thing tingling spread upward and outward. She shuddered slightly. She breathed through her nose a few times before she finally opened her eyes. Clockwork stood a few feet in front of her with a smile on his face. Danielle looked a bit uncertain as Clockwork extended his elderly hand towards her, and she took it. He led her into the room he had disappeared to when he had first come to his tower.

He directed her to a full-bodied mirror and Danielle stared at her reflection. At first she didn't quite understand what she was seeing, then she smiled. Instead of her usual ensemble she now wore a one piece jumpsuit. Its collar as well as the middle of the top half was black while the rest of it was white. On her hands she wore black gloves and around her waist she wore a belt that hung slanted. The belt had a buckle in the center that was shaped similarly to Danny's emblem except that it was in the shape of an 'A' and 'P'. It was a simple alteration, but she liked it.

Danielle turned to face Clockwork with a huge smile on her face. Without thinking about it, she wrapped her arms around the, now, chubby little version of Clockwork and squeezed him tightly. Clockwork squirmed in her grasp, but she either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Thank you so much, I love it! You've no idea how much I appreciate this."

"I...have an inkling," Clockwork stated as offhandedly as he could.

Danielle finally released her death grip on the Time Master, and then twirled around in front of the mirror. She then placed her hands on her hips and gave herself a curt nod.

"Anni Phantom. Maybe I should drop the Phantom portion."

"That is completely up to you."

"Well, I can't think if anything at the moment, so I guess I'll just stick with it for now."

"Very well."

Danielle turned to Clockwork; her smile wide. She then caught the retreating cape of Dan, and her smile only got bigger.

"I'm gonna go now. I sort of left in a huff. Danny's probably worried."

Clockwork nodded his head once and escorted Danielle back towards the entrance of his tower. Once the two made it to the door, Danielle hesitated before she kissed Clockwork on the cheek.

"Mrs. Fenton—mom...she and Danny said something awhile back and...it just occurred to me. Danny asked his mom if a spirit gave me a soul and she said maybe."

"Hmm, really?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Mhm, and I have a feeling that I know which spirit it was."

Clockwork didn't respond, but his body morphed into its young adult form. Danielle smiled once more before she flew off through the Ghost Zone and towards the Fenton Portal.

Clockwork watched her until she was completely out of his realm, then he turned back and looked around his lair. He smiled when he heard the words, "meddlesome prick".

* * *

Danielle exited the Fenton Portal and nearly bumped into Danny who was on his way in.

"Danni where've you been? You've been gone for two hours."

Danielle didn't get a chance to answer because Danny had her in a bear hug.

"We were worried," he stated as he let her go. "We—what are you wearing?"

Danielle dusted herself off before she looked down at her new costume. She looked back up and placed her hands on her hips; a huge smile illuminating her face.

"You like it? It's my new outfit. It goes with my new name."

"New...name?"

"Yep, you can call me Anni now."

"Anni...Phantom?"

"Yeah, that was as good as it was going to get. And hey, this way we can tell who's being called, especially in the heat of battle, though it might be good for Sam and Tucker, or parents and when Jazz is here, to have a pair of Fenton Phones so they won't have to yell at us. That way it'll be easier for us to hear who they're warning or whatever."

"Yeah, I just got that same idea from mom. She seemed surprised that we hadn't already thought about that. Where...where did you get the change of clothes anyway?"

"Clockwork!"

"Clock...work? Wait, you know where his tower is?"

"I do now, but that's not the point. The point is that even though my name is still slightly unoriginal, I'm working my way from under your shadow."

"Got it, Anni."

Danielle smiled before she played with her belt buckle.

"Are mom and dad worried?"

"I was able to cover for you, so no. You're lucky, Dan—er, Anni."

Danielle smirked wryly before she reverted back to her human self, Danny following her lead.

"So Danny, what's for dinner?"

**END**


End file.
